Ethical Eating in the Postsocialist and Socialist World

1. Homogenizing Europe: Raw Milk, Risk Politics, and Moral Economies in Europeanizing Lithuania

25 chapter 1 Homogenizing Europe Raw Milk, Risk Politics, and Moral Economies in Europeanizing Lithuania diana mincyte In July 2009, something quite unusual began to appear in the lobbies of Lithuania’s largest supermarket stores—colorful raw milk vending machines thatdispensedmilkthathadbeendeliveredtothesupermarketsdirectlyfrom the farm. The lines of customers at these machines were long but moved quickly as plastic bottles were rapidly filled with milk, a process that was accompaniedbythesoundsofwhistlingandpoppingofplasticcapsinthefrosty , vacuum-tight chamber of the vending machine. As many of the consumers I interviewed noted, the raw milk coming from the vending machine was the purest and safest in the sense that it did not have “direct contact” with air as it flowed from cows through tubes to containers to the vending machine. Consumerswereprotectedandsoweretheirkinwhodrankthemilkathome. The appearance of these vending machines in Lithuania is significant not only because it marks the introduction of new technologies for handling food risks in the European peripheries, but also because it interrupts the informal raw milk economies that have defined postsocialist Lithuania’s dairy sector for almost two decades. Before vending machines, raw milk in Lithuania was availableonlyalongstreetcurbsandthroughtrust-based,face-to-facetransactions . Since the end of state socialism and subsequent land privatization reforms in the region, semisubsistence farmers have been delivering raw milk to the cities and selling it directly to urban consumers, circumventing largescale processors and supermarkets (Harboe Knudsen 2012; Mincyte 2012; Nicholson 2003). The milk flowing through these networks arrived in the trunks of unrefrigerated cars and was poured by farmers from large metal 26 . diana mincyte containers into jars that consumers brought with them. Alternatively, milk wasalsopackagedandsoldinrecycledsoftdrinkbottlesandothercontainers. This economy relied on poor producers who either did not or could not afford to apply for European Union (EU) support to modernize their farms, andonimpoverishedurbanconsumerswhoweredependentonfixedincomes. Although these informal economies might have raised public health concerns to some observers from the “West,” raw milk deliveries were considered valuable and were much coveted among consumers. Consumers particularly appreciated the considerably lower prices of the milk (about half the supermarket price) and the opportunity to socialize and connect with their neighbors and the farmer while waiting for the deliveries. In this sense, raw milk deliveries emerged as ways for mediating economic risks and opening much-needed public spaces in the context of the liberalization of market economies. In light of these factors, the installation of the vending machines in Lithuanian supermarkets has transformed these informal economies in important, evenirreversible,ways,bybringingtotheforequestionsabouttheircleanliness and safety. Because the raw milk sold in Coca-Cola bottles was recast in the moralizing language of hygiene, public health, and quality, so too were the people involved in these “dubious” economies. Now that there was “quality” raw milk available through a vending machine, consumers faced a choice between trusting the farmer who sold milk on a street curb and buying tested and highly regulated milk at the supermarket. In this manner, the introduction of this new mode of food production, consumption, and distribution exposed the live nerves of disputed claims to authenticity, safety, and value. At the center of this transformation is the emergence of two competing ethical orders. On the one hand, the participants in the vending economy emphasize their commitment to food safety and public health, which are ensuredbyadherencetorigorousfoodhygienerequirements.Byunderscoring safety, these narratives equate food safety with care for one’s families, particularly the young and the old. In some cases the safety concerns spill beyond concernswithrisksrelatedtofoodandotherconsumablestoincludequestions about safety in urban spaces. In such discourses, producers and consumers emphasize the value of cleanliness and order in their surrounding environments , contrasting it to the disorderly, law-breaking behaviors of the unauthorized milk sellers in their neighborhoods. Most importantly, these narrativesreproduceandnaturalizethelanguageofgovernmentalinstitutions homogenizing europe . 27 and European bureaucracies that have framed their mission in terms of protecting the general public and ensuring order. On the other hand, members of informal raw milk networks who express their ethical position through the emphasis on personal responsibility see themselves as self-reliant actors surviving in a world where the cards are stackedagainstthem.Similartotheconsumersofstore-boughtrawmilk,who assert care and family values as their moral compass, the consumers in informalmarkets,too,underscoretheircommitmenttothefamily.Theyframe raw milk deliveries as ways to acquire inexpensive food that enables them to providenutritionallysuperiormealsforthemembersoftheirhouseholds.But rather than trusting the industry and state institutions to ensure food safety, they place value on their own skills, knowledge, and creativity in procuring what they consider healthy food. Similarly, semisubsistence producers underscore their hard physical work as...